Salon and spa tipping is a percentage of the service, paid to the people who did the work. It is not a percentage of the shampoo bottle you bought at the desk, and it is not automatic when the spa has already added its own charge. The usual U.S. range is 15% to 20%. The hard part is knowing whose hand the money should reach when an assistant shampooed you, a colorist and a stylist both touched your hair, or the person with the scissors also owns the shop.
The 15% to 20% range
The Emily Post Institute chart lists a hair salon at 15% to 20%, and asks you to split that among the people who served you. Manicures are 15% to 20%. Facials, waxing, and massage are 15% to 20%. The October 2, 2025 note uses the same 15% to 20% for hair, nails, waxing, personal training, massage, and spa treatments. The chart does not print a separate barber percentage.
Calculate the percentage on the service price before tax and before retail. A $45 haircut at 20% is $9. A $65 cut at 20% is $13. A color service priced at $120 is $18 at 15% and $24 at 20%. If the visit combined a $45 cut and a $120 color, the service base is $165 and 20% is $33, using the hair line for both.
Service by service
The chart and the October 2 note are the rows below. A service with no line of its own uses the hair salon line. Pew's November 9, 2023 chapter says 78% of U.S. adults who get haircuts always or often tip. That figure is how often people tip, not a percent of the bill.
| Service | What those pages say |
|---|---|
| Haircut | Hair salon, 15% to 20%. The October 2 note says the same for hair. Ask that the tip be split among the people who served you. |
| Color | No separate color percentage. Color sits on the hair salon line, 15% to 20%. |
| Shampoo assistant | No separate percentage. The hair salon line says to split the 15% to 20% among the people who served you. |
| Nails | Manicurist, 15% to 20%. The October 2 note says the same for nails. |
| Massage | Listed with facial and waxing at 15% to 20%. The October 2 note says the same for massage and spa treatments. |
Who gets the tip
Ask the front desk one question before you pay: does the salon split a single tip, or does each person expect their own? The answer changes the cash you need in your pocket.
If one stylist did the whole appointment, the full 15% to 20% goes to that person. If an assistant shampooed you and the stylist cut or colored, the Emily Post instruction is to split the tip among the people who served you. Two workable versions:
- One amount. Leave 15% to 20% of the service total and tell the desk how to divide it among the people who served you.
- Named shares. If the salon does not pool, hand each person their share of that same 15% to 20% and say who it is for. A tip dropped in a general jar may not reach the assistant.
Do the same when a colorist and a cutter are different people. Tip each on the portion they performed, or hand the desk one amount and name the split. Guessing "the house will sort it out" is how an assistant gets nothing.
Do not add a percentage for the receptionist who booked you, unless that person also did a service. A spoken thank-you is the right response to a scheduling favor. If someone stayed late to fix a problem, that extra time belongs in the stylist's percentage, not in a second tip to the front desk.
Owners and booth renters
An older salon custom said not to tip an owner who cut your hair, on the theory that the owner set the price and kept the service fee. The current Emily Post chart does not carve owners out. It says 15% to 20%, split among the people who served you. Many clients now tip the person who did the work either way. If you have gone to the same owner for years and they have told you not to tip, follow that. Otherwise, tip the service.
Booth rental is the other structure. A stylist who rents a chair often keeps the service fee and pays the salon rent, rather than earning an hourly wage plus tips. A tip is still customary on top of the posted price. The price list is not secretly "tip included" unless it says so. Ask if a menu line is ambiguous. The same question covers a "gratuity included" note at a hotel spa.
Retail is not a service. A bottle of product, a dryer, or a gift card is a sale. Leave it out of the tip base. If the stylist spent ten minutes genuinely advising you and you buy the product, the advice was part of the appointment you are already tipping on. You do not owe 20% of a $38 bottle.
Spas, nails, and a charge already on the bill
For a manicure, pedicure, facial, wax, or massage, use 15% to 20% of that service. A $90 massage at 20% is $18. A $35 manicure at 20% is $7. If you booked several treatments, tip each provider on their own service unless the spa tells you it pools everything into one line. Cash is still common in shops that cannot put a tip on a card. The Institute's finer points note that some salons cannot add a tip to a card, so it is worth carrying cash.
Read the bill before you add 20%. Hotel spas and some day spas print a service charge of 18% or 20% and treat it as the gratuity. Adding another full 20% doubles it. If the line says the charge is optional, you can change it. If it says the charge is mandatory, an extra few dollars is a choice, not an obligation. The federal tax distinction matters to the worker even when the screen looks the same: the IRS treats a compulsory service charge as wages, not as a tip, because you did not freely set the amount. A voluntary amount you add on an "extra tip" line is a tip. Details and the party-of-six example are in the large-party and automatic gratuity guide, and the same logic applies at a spa.
If the cut is wrong, ask for a fix before you pay, and tip at the low end of the range if you still leave one. Saying what went wrong beats leaving nothing and disappearing.
What the pay data shows
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a May 2024 median of $18.73 an hour for barbers and $16.95 for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists. For hairdressers, the lowest tenth earned under $11.82 and the highest tenth over $33.76. Those medians sit under the $23.80 median for all occupations in that profile. The median will not tell you whether your stylist is paid wages, commission, or booth rent.
If the person who served you is an employee, tips are taxable income. IRS Publication 531 tells employees to keep a daily record and to report $20 or more in tips in a month to the employer by the 10th of the next month. A stylist who is self-employed still has to include tips in income, but the employee reporting form is not their process. You do not need to know their tax status to leave 15% to 20% on the service.
Worked examples
Cut and color, $165, 20%
A $45 haircut plus a $120 color is $165 of service. Twenty percent is $33. Fifteen percent would be $24.75. The calculator link uses 20% and one person. If an assistant shampooed you, the hair salon line says to split that tip among the people who served you.
Barber, $35, 20%
Twenty percent of $35 is $7. The total with tip is $42, before tax. Fifteen percent is $5.25. Either amount is inside the usual range. Cash is still the normal way to leave it in many barber shops.
A $90 massage at 18% is $16.20, for a total of $106.20 before tax: open that example. Compare 15% and 20% on any service price with the tip percentage table.
Written by Matt Totty for TipSlice. This is etiquette and public wage information, not tax or employment advice for a shop. Prices on the menu and any printed service charge control the bill in front of you.
Sources
- Emily Post Institute, General Tipping Guide — salon, manicurist, facial, waxing, and massage at 15–20%, split among the people who served you.
- Emily Post Institute, Finer Points of Tipping — some salons cannot add a tip to a card.
- Emily Post Institute, Everyday Tipping (October 2, 2025) — 15–20% for hair, nails, waxing, massage, and spa treatments.
- Pew Research Center, services and amounts (November 9, 2023) — 78% of adults who get haircuts always or often tip.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Barbers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists — May 2024 median hourly wages of $18.73 for barbers and $16.95 for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists.
- IRS Publication 531, Reporting Tip Income — employee tip records and the monthly reporting threshold.
More from TipSlice
The short version of every service is on the tipping-by-service table. Restaurant percentages, which are a different job, are in how much to tip at restaurants. All guides are on the guides hub.